How can a page suggest its preferred image to Google?

Definition: A page can suggest a preferred image through Schema.org structured data or the Open Graph og:image meta tag. Google says that image-preview selection remains completely automated and uses several sources.

Key facts

• Google's image SEO documentation lists primaryImageOfPage, an image property attached to a main entity, and og:image as metadata sources for a preferred image.
• primaryImageOfPage accepts a URL or an ImageObject in the documented Schema.org pattern.
• An image URL or ImageObject can be attached to the main entity through mainEntity or mainEntityOfPage.
• Google recommends an image that is relevant and representative of the page, with high resolution where possible.
• The Open Graph protocol defines og:image as an image URL that represents the page's object within the graph.
• Google's Article structured-data documentation describes the image property as a URL to an image representative of the article and accepts a URL or ImageObject.

What does Google document as a preferred-image source?

Google describes image-preview selection as completely automated. It takes several sources into account when choosing which image on a page appears on Google, including a text-result image. The documentation says a page can influence that selection by providing a preferred image through metadata.

The first Schema.org route places primaryImageOfPage on a WebPage. Google documents either a URL or an ImageObject for this property:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebPage",
  "url": "https://example.com/url",
  "primaryImageOfPage": "https://example.com/images/cat.png"
}

The second route puts an image URL or ImageObject on the main entity, which the page connects with mainEntity or mainEntityOfPage. Google's example uses a BlogPosting and its mainEntityOfPage property:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "mainEntityOfPage": "https://example.com/url",
  "image": "https://example.com/images/cat.png"
}

How should the image be chosen?

Google's image SEO guidance says to choose an image that is relevant and representative of the page. It advises against a generic image, such as a site logo, and against an image with text in the Schema.org markup or og:image tag. It also advises against an extreme aspect ratio, such as an image that is too narrow or overly wide, and recommends high resolution where possible.

The Article documentation applies the same idea to article markup: the image value represents the article, and relevant images are preferred over logos or captions. It also says that image URLs must be crawlable and indexable, and that images must represent the marked-up content. The documented Article guidance recommends multiple high-resolution images with a minimum of 50K pixels when width is multiplied by height, using aspect ratios of 16x9, 4x3, and 1x1.

What does og:image add?

Google lists the og:image meta tag as a separate preferred-image source:

<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/cat.png">

The Open Graph protocol defines og:image as an image URL representing the page's object within the graph. Its optional image properties include og:image:url, og:image:secure_url, og:image:type, og:image:width, og:image:height, and og:image:alt. The protocol describes og:image:alt as a description of what is in the image, rather than a caption, and says a page specifying og:image should specify og:image:alt.

These routes describe candidate image metadata. Google's documentation leaves the final image-preview choice automated rather than assigning a precedence order between Schema.org and Open Graph.

How can a page be checked?

Inspect the rendered page or its HTML source for the relevant JSON-LD and meta elements. Confirm that the image URL in the structured data or og:image value resolves to the intended representative image. For Article markup, Google points to the URL Inspection tool to check whether image URLs are accessible to Google.

Related terms

• Which image sizes and aspect ratios does Google recommend for articles?
• How is alternative text attached to an Open Graph image?
• Must images referenced in structured data be indexable?

FAQ

Which property should you use for a page-level image?

Use primaryImageOfPage on a WebPage, or use an image property on the main entity connected through mainEntity or mainEntityOfPage. Google documents both patterns as preferred-image metadata sources.

Can you use both Schema.org image data and og:image?

You can publish each route as a metadata source. Google lists Schema.org patterns and og:image separately, while its image selection remains automated.

What should you put in og:image:alt?

Use a description of what is in the image. The Open Graph specification distinguishes that description from a caption.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Google image SEO best practices", 2 March 2026
2. Google Search Central, "Article structured data", 8 September 2026
3. Open Graph protocol, "The Open Graph protocol", undated

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